Corky South is designing its playgrounds around a simple idea: children learn best when they have room to move, explore, and get their hands on the real world. Each of our three new playgrounds now includes a dedicated outdoor learning space, with blocks, art materials, mirrors mounted along the fence, and two pavilions made for loose parts play.
Loose parts are everyday, open-ended materials our children can carry, stack, combine, and turn into whatever they imagine, things like cups, fabric, wood, and stones. There is no single right way to use them, which is exactly why they spark so much creativity. Give a child a basket of loose parts and a little space, and they will build, sort, and invent for hours.
Outdoor learning gives our children more room to move their bodies, more natural sunlight, and access to real materials they can touch and build with. Research backs up what our teachers see every day: children manage their emotions better and hold onto what they learn when lessons happen outside.
Our children already sense how special these spaces are. Many of them treat outdoor learning like a reward, something they look forward to all week. That joy is what Corky South hopes to build into every part of the day.
This is Outside in action, one of the values at the heart of Corky South: learning that reaches beyond four walls, every single day.